I’ve been romanced by sushi for as long as I can remember. In fact, I believe I first tried sushi after frequenting sushi bars solely for raw oysters! Yes, raw oysters. My partner-in-crime and I could not wait until we were old enough to drink sake and enjoy raw oysters on the half shell!

I know, it sounds a bit comical, doesn’t it? A lot of our friends were busy getting fake ID’s to get into clubs and here we were, thinking we were sophisticated and “all that”, having sake n sushi with our raw oysters! I was not that one to rush growing up, but then again my outlook was a little different. I embraced everything that came my way … didn’t like some things, but learned how to deal with those situations gracefully.

I got bored of raw oysters after a while. It wasn’t easy, visit after visit, never ordering the beautiful assortment of sushi that seduced me each time. I started off with nigiri sushi – a piece of raw fish, typically, atop of a rice pod, sometimes with wasabi spread in-between. Then it was onto rolls, tempura, noodle and rice dishes.

I have tried a lot of Japanese cuisine but only care for sushi and the like. When one grows up with a mom who is an amazing representation of traditional Cantonese cuisine, any other Asian versions of noodle and rice, well … meh …uneventful. If someone cooks these dishes for me, I am all for it; otherwise, I will not be paying for something I do not enjoy eating.

I have always wanted to make my own sushi, so I set out on this adventure with my kids. One New Year’s Day, we went to Fujiya in Vancouver to get all our ingredients. Since that New Year’s Day, we have made sushi a few times more.

Cucumber and Japanese fried pancake are cut into strips for easy rolling.

Sushi mats are very inexpensive and are easy to use.

Filling for Negitoro Roll

Negitoro Roll, Salmon Maki, Tuna Maki

Tuna Roll

My little helpers

We saw this neat contraption at the fair, and decided to buy a few. It is very easy to use, and makes a great stocking stuffer item (hint, hint!)

Cube-shaped sushi – wrapping a strip of seaweed around it makes the sushi look complete.

What I love best about making sushi is that the tools are as minimal as the creations themselves. Sushi are essentially minimalist creations of art.